George Szabo and Carol Newman Cronin are repeat winners of the NA's. The final 2 races on the Great Sound in Bermuda were sailed in awesome 8-12 knots of breeze under sunny skies, shifty enough to make it extremely interesting and tough sailing. Szabo/Cronin won the first race and protected against Henry Filter/Lori Stout in the second to clinch the win. Filter/Stout managed only a 10 and 11 today, and wound up second overall. Third place overall went to Hal Gilreath/Ned Jones, as they finished off the week with 2 solid races, winning the last race.

Unlikely pair make winning combination

By Patrick Bean
© Copyright by The Royal Gazette Ltd
Bermuda, May 4, 2000

Though separated by some 3,000 miles, George Szabo and Carol Newman Cronin have found a way to make the ideal connection.

Indeed east coast up tight and west coast laid back have combined to mesmerise and befuddle all who would challenge this unlikely pairing, one which ran away with the Snipes Class championship at this year's International Race Week Sponsored by Bacardi.

Szabo, the classic surfer dude who refuses to grow up, and Cronin, all business all the time, present quite an unusual recipe, but results do not lie and thus far the finished dish has been nothing less than delectable.

Five straight wins to begin the week - they were second in the final race, rendered meaningless via the earlier results - sent out an audible warning to the 31-member fleet. And with the North American Championships starting today the Szabo-Cronin tandem stands as the one for all to shoot for.

"Socially and tactically we're opposites," said Cronin, who owns her own graphic design business. "Socially I tend to be pretty serious and not a big drinker or big partier and he tends to be a bit more of the go-and-have-a-good-time (type) and I think I keep him a little more on the straight and narrow there. At the same time he lightens me up, so it's a give and take thing. Then tactically on the race course he really likes to play the centre while I prefer to test the edges.

"I have a nickname back home, which is the Queen of Leverage. I like to get up on people's hips and he likes to tack back to the centre, so we kind of talk about it and balance each other out there."

Their backgrounds collide in that both were born into sailing families, however they deviate again, with Cronin affectionately describing how she used to go out on nice cruises with her family during her youth and later got into serious racing, while Szabo's early experiences represent something out of an action adventure movie.

"My dad sailed Star boats forever and from when I was three years-old I was dumped into a boat," said Szabo, a sail maker whose last name is Hungarian, but describes himself as `a mudbreed' with a little German, some Polish and some other stuff mixed in. "So I used to go sailing a lot and then at nine years-old you get a Laser and go out sailing...but forget about racing, let's get ten friends on board and go capsize the thing.

"You're around the water all the time and just keep sailing for fun and eventually decide `Okay, racing's fun too'." Certainly, the tacks taken may have been different, but results speak for themselves. These have not gone unnoticed with Szabo recently nominated for the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award and Cronin similarly for Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year.

They met during a regatta when both were in need - Szabo in search of a crew, Cronin requiring a new skipper after parting ways with Henry Filter, who is also competing in Bermuda this week.

Since coming together, the pair have conspired to arrive at events early in order to get in the necessary practice time for the sake of synchronising matters.

"George is one of the best," added Cronin, whose husband Paul is here as well. "We have a good time together, we laugh in the boat...we just have a lot of fun."

Szabo's happy-go-lucky personality has not hindered him from attaining great heights in his chosen sport, having won the last three Snipes Nationals, the last two North American Championships, two Lido-14 National Championships and competing at numerous other prestigious regattas involving Lidos, Thistles, Stars and Snipes.

"I've done a lot of what I set out to do," said Szabo, whose wife Stacey is a sailor as well. "I guess the biggest point would be to just go out and have fun, when you start to get nervous you get a lot slower."

Conversely Cronin has a ways to go towards satisfying her competitive appetite, with several women's regattas on her wish list.

"I'm going to steer at the Women's Nationals again and the Women's Worlds and again my crew lives in San Diego of all places.

"For this year my goal is to win the Women's Worlds and I've been working pretty hard toward that. I've been working with a trainer and trying to work on what I feel are my weaknesses in the boat."

			Date	4-May-00		4-May-00		5-May-00		5-May-00		6-May-00		6-May-00
	Sail #	Skipper	Crew	Race 1		Race 2		Race 3		Race 4		Race 5		Race 6		Total	Drop	Final
				Pos.	Score	Pos.	Score	Pos.	Score	Pos.	Score	Pos.	Score	Pos.	Score
USA	29672	George Szabo	Carol Newman Cronin	2	2	2	2	1	0.75	3	3	1	0.75	8	8	16.5	8	8.5	1
USA	28702	Henry Filter	Lori Stout	3	3	1	0.75	3	3	1	0.75	10	10	11	11	28.5	11	17.5	2
USA	29324	Hal Gilreath	Ned Jones	7	7	9	9	13	13	2	2	5	5	1	0.75	36.75	13	23.75	3
USA	29592	Paul Cronin	Nancy Haberland	5	5	8	8	12	12	8	8	4	4	3	3	40	12	28	4
USA	29864	John Manderson	Maggie Manderson	4	4	4	4	9	9	14	14	7	7	4	4	42	14	28	5
USA	27569	Rick Arneson	Clare Lyon	9	9	11	11	8	8	4	4	3	3	5	5	40	11	29	6
USA	29204	Lee Griffith	Lisa Griffith	1	0.75	3	3	10	10	19	19	11	11	7	7	50.75	19	31.75	7
USA	29112	David Tillson	Watt Duffy	6	6	5	5	6	6	10	10	18	18	9	9	54	18	36	8
USA	29699	Andrew Pimental	Stacey Szabo	8	8	15	15	5	5	9	9	9	9	6	6	52	15	37	9
USA	29315	Ken Redler	Julie Redler	12	12	13	13	17	17	5	5	2	2	10	10	59	17	42	10
USA	28812	Gonzalo Diaz	Eric Krebs	11	11	7	7	11	11	7	7	8	8	12	12	56	12	44	11
BER	25864	Stephen Dickinson	Heath Foggo	14	14	6	6	7	7	6	6	17	17	13	13	63	17	46	12
CAN	29317	Ian Brown	Susan Cushman	16	16	14	14	2	2	15	15	20	20	2	2	69	20	49	13
BER	25077	Malcolm Smith	Damian Payne	10	10	12	12	4	4	11	11	14	14	14	14	65	14	51	14
USA	29147	Alex Pline	Lisa Pline	15	15	10	10	14	14	12	12	6	6	15	15	72	15	57	15
USA	25080	Greg Morton	Nancy Gilreath	24	24	16	16	16	16	13	13	12	12	18	18	99	24	75	16
USA	29682	Alex Stout	Liz Filter	13	13	19	19	15	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	95	19	76	17
USA	28542	Robert Coyle	Melissa Lim	20	20	25	25	19	19	17	17	15	15	19	19	115	25	90	18
USA	29200	Woody Norwood	Julie Smithers	18	18	18	18	21	21	22	22	13	13	22	22	114	22	92	19
BEL	29019	Claus Carpelan	Freddie Wegalius	17	17	17	17	20	20	23	23	21	21	17	17	115	23	92	20
USA	14888	Kiki Bosch	Robert Blee	23	23	21	21	18	18	21	21	25	25	20	20	128	25	103	21
CAN	27055	Christopher Hains	Don Hains	22	22	20	20	23	23	20	20	23	23	23	23	131	23	108	22
BER	25707	Bill Buckles	Kim Disbrow	25	25	24	24	24	24	18	18	24	24	26	26	141	26	115	23
CAN	25843	Gweneth Crook	Monique Gaylor	26	26	26	26	25	25	25	25	22	22	21	21	145	26	119	24
BER	19708	Ray Pitman	Seaweed' Tatem	DNF	29	22	22	22	22	26	26	26	26	24	24	149	29	120	25
USA	24702	Jerry Thompson	Carolyn Brown	21	21	23	23	DNC	31	DNC	31	19	19	DNF	27	152	31	121	26
BER	19111	J.P. Snelling	Cameron Hill	27	27	28	28	26	26	24	24	27	27	25	25	157	28	129	27
USA	28282	Leo Murphy	Joe Murphy	28	28	27	27	27	27	27	27	DNC	31	DNC	31	171	31	140	28
USA	29534	John Johns	Cathy Johns	19	19	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	174	31	143	29
BER	27275	Guy DeSilva	Michael Barnes	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	186	31	155	30
USA	29696	John Popadopoulos	Stephanie Faillers	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	DNC	31	186	31	155	31

Day 2

Saturday's final 2 races will decide the Snipe Class 2000 North American Championship in Bermuda. Henry Filter/Lorie Stout and George Szabo/Carol Cronin split Friday, each posting a 1-3, enabling Filter/Stout to carry the .75 point edge earned Thursday into Sunday's final. "It's all tied up for tomorrow" said Filter looking to Saturday. The forecast is for 8-12 kts, and unsettled. 32 boats from BER, USA, CAN and FIN make up the fleet. Tomorrows final will be the conclusion of 6 days of racing in pristine clear waters with outstanding conditions. Spanish Point Boat Club hosts Snipes and Lasers during Race Week, and Snipe NA's.

Day 1

A glorious start to the 2000 NA's, 2 great races in 12-18 knots of steady breeze. Lee Griffith/Lisa Griffith took the first race with George Szabo/Carol Newman Cronin in second, Henry Filter/Lori Stout following and John/Maggie Manderson behind them. After a longer than hoped delay for Cruise Ship traffic, the second race was won by Filter/Stout, Szabo/Cronin again in second, Griffith/Griffith took third and the Mandersons ended the day with another fourth.

Tommorrow the wind forcast is for 15-20 knots from the North, so more exciting racing is expected.